Page 31 - DLIS006_INFORMATION SOURCES AND SERVICES

Information Sources and Services

Notes configuration of specialized equipment technique and style in addition to their
knowledge base as the organizer of world information to get their job done.
(b) Benefits from Information Consultant: The importance of information consulting
profession is directly related with the advancement in micro-computer technology
and information explosion in print as well as digital environment. Consulting the
information consultant can give four benefits to the clients. These are:
It provides objective independent advice in regard to political, religious and
other matter;
To take the help of consultants can be highly cost-effective because money can
be saved by not going through the vast number of documents and by procuring
them and getting the required information;
The consultant has the necessary knowledge and skill;

They are easy and convenient but the funding of the organization makes it
difficult to employ them for a long or short term basis in the organization.
(c) Services: Services rendered by consultants and consulting organization mostly fall
within the scope of technical enquiry service, feasibility studies, reviewing some
technologies, software, evaluating technologies, marketing of the products, market
survey, designing new databases, software to be used in information processing,
storage or retrieval, system analysis and management, advice on collection
development, doing cataloguing, editorial services like indexing, abstracting, etc.
(j) Information Broker Service: An information broker (IB) is “an individual or organization
who on demand seeks to answer questions using all sources and who is in business for a
profit”. They are those individuals or firms who are so professional and experienced
enough in their lines that they can gather the requested information with a computer and
a telephone within a few minutes or hours. An IB may not simply be a librarian, or simply
one who “goes online” and searches for the answers to questions and problems of the
patron; or he isn’t someone who “has all the answers”.

Did u know? The Association of Independent Information Professionals, the first
professional association devoted to information brokers, was formed in Milwaukee in
1987.
The profession has its roots in 1937 when librarians and other information professionals formed
an organization called the American Society for Information Science and Technology in an
attempt to establish their professional identity separate from public libraries.
(a) Tools: IBs use a combination of online, offline, and physical search techniques depending
on the clients’ needs. Every assignment is different and the IB determines the appropriate
method of obtaining the clients’ requested information, while remaining within the clients’
budget. Once all the required information is located and retrieved, the IB then cleans up
the raw information and presents it in the manner most appropriate for his/her client.
This may mean summarizing the information or verifying the correctness of it.
(b) Importance: If anyone had a major health problem they would not attempt themselves to
solve it. They would seek the services of the appropriate professional (a doctor in this
case). So, just a person would use an attorney for legal work or a doctor for medical work,
they use an Information Broker for access to the needed information. A great impetus for
the growth of information broker has come from the recognition that knowledge is a
business and information is a commodity and the fact that many people simply are not

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